The British Newspaper, 1951-2000

The British Newspaper, 1951-2000

Selwyn Eagle with Diana Dixon, NEWSPLAN: Report of the Newsplan Project
in the London and South Eastern Library Region (London, 1996)
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1953 : General Council of the Press formed.
• 1954 - Oct 3 : The Manchester Sunday paper, Emire News, sets up its first Cardiff edition as 'Wales's Own Sunday Paper: Printed in Wales for Wales'.
• 1959 - Aug 24 : Manchester Guardian changes title to the Guardian, based in London.
• 1961 : Second Royal Commission on the Press.
• 1961 - Feb 5 : Sunday Telegraph launched.
• 1962 - Feb 4 : Launch of Sunday Times magazine as Sunday Times Colour Section.
• 1964 : Press Council replaces General Council of the Press.
• 1964 - June 9 : Death of Lord Beaverbrook.
• 1964 - Sept 6 : Observer colour supplement launched.
• 1964 - Sept 15 : Daily Herald becomes the Sun.
• 1964 - Sept 25 : Daily Telegraph magazine launched.
• 1966 : Times bought by Roy Thomson, owner of the Sunday Times.
• 1966 - May 3 : Times begins printing news on the front page.
• 1969 : News of the World bought by Rupert Murdoch.
• 1969 - Nov 17 : Sun re-launched as a tabloid by Rupert Murdoch.
• 1973 : Y Dinesydd launched in Cardiff: the first of the Welsh-language community papers ['papurau bro'] established in Wales.
• 1974 : Third Royal Commission on the Press.
• 1976 : Evening Post (Nottingham) becomes the first British newspaper to introduce direct input by journalists.
• 1978 - Nov 2 : Daily Star launched.
• 1978 - Dec 1 : Publication of the Times and Sunday Times suspended for eleven months.
• 1979 : Financial Times launches international edition in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• 1980 : Daily Star printed simultaneously by facsimile in London and Manchester.
• 1980 : British Library Newspaper Library Newsletter launched. Became Newspaper Library News in 1997.
• 1980 - Oct 31 : Closure of Evening News leaves London with just one evening newspaper.
• 1981 : Rupert Murdoch buys the Times and Sunday Times.
• 1981 - May 3 : Sunday Express magazine launched.
• 1981 - Sept 6 : News of the World magazine, Sunday, launched.
• 1982 - May 2 : Mail on Sunday launched: the first photocomposed national newspaper in Britain.
• 1982 - Oct 17 : Sulyn launched: first Welsh-language Sunday newspaper. Ceased publication in January 1983.
• 1984 : Robert Maxwell buys the Mirror Group.
• 1984 - Oct 2: Daily News (Birmingham) launched by Chris and Pat Bullivant. The UK's first free daily title.
• 1985 : Daily Telegraph bought by Conrad Black.
• 1986 : News International moves all national titles to its new plant at Wapping.
• 1986 - March 4 : Today launched by Eddy Shah, first national colour newspaper.
• 1986 - Sept 14 : Sunday Sport launched.
• 1986 - Oct 7 : Independent launched.
• 1987 : Today bought by Rupert Murdoch.
• 1987 : First women editors of national newspapers in modern times: Wendy Henry (News of the World) and Eve Pollard (Sunday Mirror).
• 1987 - Feb 24 : London Daily News launched by Robert Maxwell: the first attempt at a 24-hour newspaper in Britain. Ceased publication on 23 July.
• 1987 - April 26 : News on Sunday launched. Ceased publication in November.
• 1988 - Aug 7: Scotland on Sunday launched.
• 1988 - Aug 17 : Sport launched, initially appearing every Wednesday.
• 1989 - March 5 : Wales on Sunday launched in Cardiff.
• 1989 - Sept 17 : Sunday Correspondent launched. Ceased publication 25 November 1990.
• 1990 - Jan 28 : Independent on Sunday launched.
• 1990 - May 11 : European launched by Robert Maxwell. Ceased publication on 14 December 1998.
• 1991 : Press Complaints Commission replaces the Press Council.
• 1991 - Oct 7 : Sport becomes daily.
• 1991 - Nov 5 : Death of Robert Maxwell.
• 1992 : Dundee Courier becomes the last daily in Britain to put news not advertisements on its front page.
• 1993 : Observer bought by Guardian Media Group.
• 1994 - Nov : Electronic Telegraph launched: first British national on the Internet.
• 1995 - Nov 17 : Today ceases publication: first national to close since the Daily Sketch.
• 1996 - April 21: Sunday Business launched.
• 1997 - Nov 11 : Shetland Times versus Shetland News: Scotland's test case on Internet links, settled out of court, permits the News, under certain conditions, to link to stories on the Times's website.
• 1998 - March 15 : Sport First launched: Britain's first national Sunday newspaper dedicated to sport.
• 1998 - May 17 : Death of Hugh, Lord Cudlipp of Aldingbourne, who first joined the Daily Mirror in 1935.
• 1998 - June 10 : Death of Sir David English, the editor who transformed the fortunes of the Daily Mail.
• 1998 - Sept 1 : Death of Vere Harmsworth, Third Viscount Rothermere.
• 1999 - Feb 7: Sunday Herald (Glasgow) launched
• 1999 - March 16 : Metro launched: a daily newspaper distributed free to travellers on the London Underground.
• 1999 - March : The Heritage Lottery Fund awards NEWSPLAN a grant of £5 million.
• 2000 - Sept 20 : Business a.m. launched: the first new, daily newspaper in Scotland for 100 years.

Newspaper Library News Winter 1998/1999
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

The British Newspaper, 1901-1950

The British Newspaper, 1901-1950

The Daily Mirror 2 November 1903
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1902 - Jan 17 : Times Literary Supplement launched.
• 1903 - Nov 2 : Daily Mirror launched by Harmsworth. First daily illustrated exclusively with photographs.
• 1907 : National Union of Journalists founded.
• 1908 - Nov 14 : Illustrated Weekly Budget launched: 'The only 1d newspaper in the world printed in colour'. Only seven issues published.
• 1909 - March 2 : Daily Sketch launched. Merged with the Daily Mail in 1971.
• 1911 : Copyright Act.
• 1911 - Jan 25 : Daily Herald launched. First newspaper to sell two million copies.
• 1913 - April 12 : New Statesman founded by Sidney Webb.
• 1914 - March 11 : First half-tone in the Times: a 4 by 3 inch picture of the Rokeby Venus, damaged in a Suffragette demonstration.
• 1915 : 'Teddy Tail' - first British comic strip - in the Daily Mail.
• 1915 - March 14 : Sunday Pictorial launched by Rothermere. Became Sunday Mirror in 1963.
• 1916 : Daily Express bought by Max Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook).
• 1918 - Dec 29 : Sunday Express launched.
• 1922 - Aug 14 : Death of Lord Northcliffe.
• 1924 - Nov 2 : First crossword in a British newspaper, in the Sunday Express.
• 1926 - May : Most newspapers suspended during the General Strike. Government publishes British Gazette; TUC publishes British Worker.
• 1930 - Jan 1 : Daily Worker launched. Became Morning Star in 1966.
• 1930 - Feb 1 : First Times crossword.
• 1930 - June 2 : News Chronicle formed by the merger of the Daily News and the Daily Chronicle. Merged with Daily Mail in 1960.
• 1931 : Audit Bureau of Circulations formed.
• 1932 - Aug 23 : British Museum Newspaper Library opened at Colindale in North London.
• 1934 - Oct 18 : Daily Mail publishes the first photograph to be transmitted by beam radio (from Melbourne to London).
• 1938 - Oct 1 : Picture Post launched by Edward Hulton. Ceased publication in 1957.
• 1940 : Newsprint rationing introduced.
• 1940 - Nov 26 : Death of Lord Rothermere.
• 1941 : Daily Worker and Week suppressed.
• 1947 : First Royal Commission on the Press.

Sunday Pictorial 14 March 1915
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

The British Newspaper, 1851-1900

The British Newspaper, 1851-1900

The Colored News 15 September 1855
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1851 : Reuters News Agency opens in London.
• 1853 - Aug : Abolition of advertisement tax.
• 1855 : Yr Herald Cymraeg launched in Caernarfon.
• 1855 - June 29 : Daily Telegraph launched.
• 1855 - July 1 : Repeal of the Stamp Act opens the way for cheap, mass-circulation newspapers and modern newspaper design in terms of spacing and headlines.
• 1855 - Aug 4 : Colored News, first coloured newspaper, launched. Discontinued 29 September.
• 1855 : Clerkenwell News launched; became Daily Chronicle in 1872.
• 1855 - Sept 20 : Daily Telegraph becomes the first 1d London morning newspaper.
• 1857 : Daily Telegraph invents box number system for classified advertisements.
• 1859 - March 24 : Penny Bell's Life & Sporting News launched. Became Sporting Life on 30 April.
• 1859 - March 29 : Irish Times launched.
• 1861 : Paper duty abolished.
• 1861 - May 20 : First daily newspaper published in Wales: Cambrian Daily Leader is launched in Swansea.
• 1865 - Feb 7 : Pall Mall Gazette launched. Merged with Evening Standard in 1923.
• 1868 : Press Association formed.
• 1868 - Dec 8 : Echo launched, first ½d daily. Ceased publication in 1905.
• 1869 - May 1 : Western Mail launched.
• 1869 : Newspapers deposited directly with British Museum by publishers.
• 1869 - Dec 4 : Graphic launched. Ceased publication in 1932.
• 1871 : Central News founded to rival Press Association.
• 1872 : C.P. Scott becomes editor of Manchester Guardian (until 1929).
• 1872 - Feb 7 : South Wales Daily News launched in Cardiff.
• 1880 : W.T. Stead succeeds John Morley on Pall Mall Gazette and introduces 'new journalism', including the interview and gossip column, into Britain.
• 1880 - May 31 : St James Gazette launched. Merged with Evening Standard in 1905.
• 1881 - July 26 : Evening News launched. Merged with Evening Standard in 1980.
• 1881 - Oct 16 : People launched.
• 1881 - Oct 22 : Tit-Bits launched by George Newnes.
• 1888 - Jan 9 : London Financial Guide launched. Became Financial Times on 13 February.
• 1888 - Jan 17 : Star launched. Merged with Evening News in 1960.
• 1888 : David Lloyd George forms a company to produce the Welsh weekly, Udgorn Rhyddid ['Trumpet of Freedom'].
• 1889 - March 30 : Early use of photographs: Cambridge and Oxford boat crews, in Illustrated London News.
• 1890 - Jan 4 : Daily Graphic launched, first daily illustrated paper. Merged with Daily Sketch in 1926.
• 1891 - Nov 4 : First half-tone newspaper picture published in Daily Graphic: that of George Lambert, Liberal parliamentary candidate.
• 1892 - May 21 : Morning founded; became London Morning in 1898, then Morning Herald; purchased by C. Arthur Pearson; in September 1900 merged with Daily Express.
• 1892 - May 23 : Morning Leader founded: later amalgamated with Daily News.
• 1893 - Jan 2 : Financial Times first appears on pink paper.
• 1893 - Jan 31 : Westminster Gazette launched. Merged with Daily News in 1928.
• 1893 - Feb 13 : South Wales Daily Post launched in Swansea.
• 1896 - May 4 : Daily Mail launched by Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe).
• 1897 - June 23 : Largest news illustration ever printed by any daily paper in this country, of the Diamond Jubilee procession, published in Daily Mail.
• 1899 : Llais Llafur launched by Ebeneser Rees. Ceased publication in 1915.
• 1900 - April 24 : Daily Express launched by Pearson. First national daily to put news on the front page.

The People 16 October 1881
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

The British Newspaper, 1801-1850

The British Newspaper, 1801-1850

The Times 10 January 1806
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1801 - Sept 27 : Weekly Dispatch launched. Became Sunday Dispatch in 1928. Ceased publication in 1961.
• 1802 - Jan 1 : Cobbett's Annual Register founded, later Cobbett's Weekly Political Register. Ceased publication in 1836.
• 1803 : Globe launched. Merged with Pall Mall Gazette in 1921.
• 1804 : Cambrian launched in Swansea. First newspaper published in Wales.
• 1806 - Jan 10 : First use of illustration in the Times: Nelson's funeral.
• 1808 - Jan 3 : Examiner launched. Editor Leigh Hunt imprisoned in 1813 for publishing criticism of the Prince Regent. Ceased publication in 1881.
• 1808 : North Wales Gazette launched in Bangor. First newspaper published in North Wales.
• 1810 : Carmarthen Journal launched.
• 1814 - Jan 1 : Baptist Minister, Joseph Harrris launches Seren Gomer ['Star of Gomer'] in Swansea. First Welsh-language newspaper.
• 1814 - Nov 24 : First issue of a newspaper - the Times - printed on a (Koenig) power press.
• 1815 : Stamp Duty increased to 4d per sheet.
• 1817 - Jan 25 : Scotsman launched.
• 1821 - Feb 18 : New Observer launched. Became the Sunday Times on 20 October 1822.
• 1821 - May 5 : Manchester Guardian founded by John Edward Taylor.
• 1822 : Stamp Office agrees to pass copies of all newspapers to British Museum.
• 1822 : Cardiff Weekly Reporter launched.
• 1822 - March 3 : Bell's Life in London adds and Sporting Chronicle to its title. First newspaper to include sport as a major component. Merged with Sporting Life in 1886.
• 1827 - May 21 : Standard launched, later Evening Standard.
• 1828 - July 5 : Spectator founded.
• 1832 : First recorded British newspaper cartoon, published in Bell's New Weekly Messenger.
• 1837 : Northern Star, major Chartist newspaper, founded in Leeds by Feargus O'Connor.
• 1841 - July 17 : Punch founded. Ceased publication in 1992; re-launched in 1996.
• 1841 - Nov 12 : Jewish Chronicle founded. Oldest Jewish newspaper in the world.
• 1842 - May 14 : Illustrated London News launched: first fully illustrated weekly.
• 1842 - Nov 27 : Lloyd's Illustrated London Newspaper launched, later Lloyd's Weekly News. Became Sunday News in 1923; incorporated with Sunday Graphic in 1931.
• 1843 : Yr Amserau ['The Times'] founded in Liverpool by John Jones and edited by William Rees. Published in the Isle of Man between July and September 1848. Merged with Baner Cymru ['Banner of Wales'] in 1859 under Thomas Gee to become Baner ac Amserau Cymru.
• 1843 - Sept 2 : Economist founded, to campaign for free trade.
• 1843 - Oct 1 : News of the World founded by John Browne Bell at 3d. Newsagents at first refused to handle it at such a low price.
• 1844 - Aug 6 : First story based on telegraphed news printed in the Times: birth of Queen's son at Windsor.
• 1846 : Mitchell's Newspaper Press Directory founded, later Benn's Media Directory.
• 1846 - Jan 21 : Daily News launched, edited by Charles Dickens.
• 1848 : William Howard Russell joins staff of the Times. Shortly to become first professional war correspondent.
• 1848 : First W.H. Smith station bookstall opened, at Euston.
• 1850 - May 5 : Reynold's Weekly Newspaper launched. Became Sunday Citizen in 1962; ceased publication in 1967.

Charles Mitchell, The Newspaper Press Directory ... For the Year 1846 (London, [1846])
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

The British Newspaper 1651-1700

The British Newspaper, 1651-1700

The Ladies Mercury 27 February 1693
The British Library, 816.m.19.(7.)
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1655 : Cromwell restores the licensing system and suppresses all newspapers except official publications such as Mercurius Politicus.
• 1662 : After the Restoration, the Printing Act brings in stringent press control.
• 1665 - Nov 16 : Oxford Gazette founded. Became London Gazette in February 1666. The world's oldest surviving periodical.
• 1679 : Lapse of Licensing Act brings a flood of unlicensed newspapers, later suppressed.
• 1693 : Ladies Mercury founded, the first women's magazine.
• 1695 : Parliament decides against renewing the Licensing Act; the way is cleared for a free press.
• 1696 : Lloyd's News founded, forerunner of Lloyd's List.
• 1699 : Edinburgh Gazette founded.

The Edinburgh Gazette 18-21 September 1699
The British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

The British Newspaper, 1751-1800

The British Newspaper, 1751-1800

The Leedes Intelligencer 19 May 1761
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1754 : Leedes Intelligencer founded, later the Yorkshire Post.
• 1755 - Oct 18 : Bath Advertiser, Bath's second newspaper, founded to include 'Lists of the Nobility and Gentry resorting to the BATH; with an Account of Plays perform'd at both the Theatres'.
• 1760 - Jan 12 : Public Ledger founded: oldest British periodical with continuous daily publication.
• 1763 : First open reporting of Parliament since June 1738, in the North Briton under John Wilkes, who was prosecuted for seditious libel.
• 1770 : Morning Chronicle founded. Ceased publication in 1862.
• 1771 : Press wins the right to report Parliamentary proceedings.
• 1772 : Morning Post founded by John Bell. Merged with Daily Telegraph in 1937.
• 1779 : First London Sunday newspaper: (Mrs) E. Johnson's British Gazette and Sunday Monitor. Ceased publication in 1829.
• 1780 - Nov 1 : Morning Herald founded. Ceased publication in 1869.
• 1785 - Jan 1 : Daily Universal Register founded by John Walter I. Became the Times on 1 January 1788. Britain's oldest surviving newspaper with continuous daily publication.
• 1788 - May 3 : Star and Evening Advertiser launched: the first daily evening newspaper.
• 1790 - June 20 : Sunday Chronicle announces 4 a.m. Sunday morning publication, instead of Saturday night. All Sunday papers adopt the practice about this time.
• 1791 - Dec 1 : Observer founded: oldest surviving Sunday newspaper.
• 1794 - Feb 8 : Morning Advertiser founded by the Licensed Victuallers Association. In 1815 it became the first daily published in Fleet Street.
• 1796 - May 1 : Bell's Weekly Messenger founded. Ceased publication in 1896.

The Bath Advertiser 15 November 1755
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

The British Newspaper, 1701-1750

Farley's Bath Journal 18 October 1756
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©2000, The British Library Board

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The British Newspaper, 1701-1750

The Edinburgh Courant 17-19 December 1705
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1701 - Sept 6 : Estimated first issue of the Norwich Post: probably the first provincial newspaper.
• 1702 - March 11 : Daily Courant founded, first daily paper. Ceased publication in 1735.
• 1704 : Weekly Review founded by Daniel Defoe.
• 1704 - Aug 12 : Earliest surviving copy of a provincial newspaper: William Bonny's Bristol Post-Boy (No. 91).
• 1705 : Edinburgh Courant founded.
• 1706 : Evening Post, first evening newspaper, founded.
• 1709 : First Copyright Act.
• 1709 : Tatler founded by Steele and Addison.
• 1709 : Worcester Post-Man founded. Became Berrow's Worcester Journal in 1753. Britain's oldest surviving non-official newspaper.
• 1710 : Examiner founded, with Swift briefly as editor.
• 1711 : Spectator founded by Steele and Addison.
• 1712 - Aug : Stamp duty imposed on newspapers and advertisements.
• 1713 : Stamford Mercury founded, second oldest surviving provincial newspaper.
• 1719 : Daily Post founded, with Defoe as contributor.
• 1727 : London Evening Post founded. Ceased publication in 1797.
• 1730 - Feb 3 : Daily Advertiser founded. Ceased publication in 1798.
• 1731 : Gentleman's Magazine founded by Edward Cave. Ceased publication in 1914.
• 1734 : Lloyd's List founded.
• 1737 : Belfast Newsletter, the world's oldest surviving general daily newspaper, founded.
• 1738 : All parliamentary reporting suppressed.
• 1747 - Dec 29 : Aberdeen Journal founded, later Press and Journal, the oldest surviving Scottish newspaper.

Stamford Mercury 6 September 1722
British Library Newspaper Library
Copyright ©1997, The British Library Board

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The British Newspaper 1620-1650

Mercurius Aulicus. Communicating the Intelligence and Affaires of the Court
7[6]-13[12] April [1645]
The British Library E.279.(8.)
Copyright ©2000, The British Library Board

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The British Newspaper, 1620-1650

Mercurius Civicus. Londons Intelligencer 25 May-1 June 1643
British Library, E.104.(3.)
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

• 1620 - Dec 2 : Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc: first coranto in English, published in Amsterdam.
• 1622 - May 23 : Weekly Newes from Italy, etc.: first news book to carry date of publication on title page, published by Nicholas Bourne and Thomas Archer.
• 1641 - July : Abolition of Star Chamber brings about a measure of press freedom.
• 1641 : Diurnall Occurrences in Parliament: first reporting of Parliament.
• 1643 : Rivalry between Royalist and Parliamentarian newspapers, such as the Royalist Mercurius Aulicus and the Parliamentarian Mercurius Britannicus.

The True Informer: Containing a Perfect Collection of the Proceedings in Parliament
17 January 164[6]
The British Library, E.316.(21.)
Copyright ©1999, The British Library Board

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